Environmental effects on potato growers resulting from the implementation of the convention on the Egyptian European partnership

The present study aimed at identifying the knowledge level of potato farmers regarding export conditions of potatoes to the European Union (EU), to determine the differences between the knowledge degrees of the farmers in two villages to identify farmer opinions regarding the environmental effects of the agricultural part of the Egyptian-European convention, and to identify the problems facing farmers since the implementation of the Egyptian-European convention. The study was conducted in the village of (Sayedna Solomon) in Nobariya area, Beharia Governorate as one of the largest areas inside the Pest Free Area (PFA), and the village of Talia , Menofia Governorate as one of the largest areas outside the Pest Free Area (PFA) . A random sample of 50 farmers was chosen from Sayedna Solomon village and 100 farmers from Talia village. Data were collected through personal interviews with respondents by using pre-tested questionnaires prepared specifically to achieve the study objectives. Frequencies, percentages, means, and standard deviations, in addition to (t) test were used to present and analysis of the obtained data. The most important results of the study were :-There was significant differences at 0.05 level between farmers' level of knowledge in the two studied villages regarding the export conditions of potatoes to the (EU). - There was an increase in the negative envi ronmental effects on small farmers resulting from applying the Egyptian-European convention as the investigated farmers expressed, and the differences between the two studied villages were significant at 0.01 level.- There were main problems facing small farmers in the (Sayedna Solomon) village concerning the market of the crop locally, the low export prices, and the shortage of irrigation water in the summer, while the main problems in (Talia ) village were concerning the lack of input supply and the high prices of the inputs, the irrigation problem and the problem of marketing the crop locally